



RAINY DAYS 

i 

AND 

SUNNY DAYS 


BY y 

KATE WHITING PATCH 


> 

I 

V 



1899 

SPRINGFIELD, MASS 

MILTON BRADLEY COMPANY 

NEW YORK ATLANTA KANSAS CITY 


1 

I 



45237 

Copyrighted 1899 , 

By Milton Bradley Company, 
Springfield, Mass. 





1 


Rainy days and sunny days — 

What difference makes the weather, 
When little hearts are full of love 
And all are glad together? 
















CONTENTS. 


FIVE RAINY DAYS. 

I. Cherrylips’ Rainy Day, 7 

II. CuRLYHEADS* RaINY DaY, 15 

III. Dimplechin’s Rainy Day, ..... 20 

IV. Blue-Eyes* Rainy Day, 26 

V. Baby Sunshine’s Rainy Dai, . . 33 


FOUR SUNNY DAYS. 

I. A September Day, 39 

II. Jacr Frost and the Chestnuts, . . 46 

III. Little Harvesters, 53 

TV. The Day Before Christmas, ... 62 




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FIVE RAINY DAYS. 


I. 

CHERRYLIPS’ RAINY DAY. 

“^Ap, tap, splash, splash,’^ the rain- 
^ drops beat against the window-pane. 
Were they laughing in mischievous glee 
at the five little noses flattened against 
the other side of the glass, or were they 
trying to get through and wash away 
the frowns that puckered the five little 
foreheads? A big tear traveled to the 
end of Dimplechin’s nose, and then ran 
down the glass, chasing a raindrop that 
was running on the other side. 

Dimplechin watched the race and for- 
got to cry any more, — but Cherry lips 
said, “ O, dear ! and then all the other 
rosy lips had to echo her. 

Copyrighted by the Juvenile Literature Pub. Co., Hyde Park, Mass. 


8 RAINY DAYS AND SUNNY DAYS. 

Such a dismal chorus of ‘‘ O, dears 
made mamma look up from her sewing. 

“ Why, children,” she said, ‘‘ there is 
rain and gloom enough outside ; we want 
sunshine in the house a day like this. 
Come ! laugh now, every one of you, and 
see how jolly you will feel.” 

“ But, mamma,” pouted Curlyhead, 
“you were going to take us out in the 
woods for a picnic to-day, and now this 
bad rain makes us stay indoors,” and 
Curlyhead hit the window pane with his 
fist, as if that would punish the laughing 
raindrops! Then — for Curlyhead was 
the eldest — the other four thought they 
must slap the window-pane, too. Mam- 
ma shook her head and looked sorry. 

“Why, Curlyhead,” she said, “just 
look out and see the grass and flowers, 
and the great trees. They are all very 
glad to see the rain, and the woods will 
be all the sweeter for our picnic if it is 
pleasant to-morrow. Come! laugh now; 


CHERRYLIPS’ RAINY DAY. 9 

Have a good, merry laugH, and we will 
make sunshine for ourselves.” 

The little people looked at one another 
and did not know what to do. Then 
Baby Sunshine looked at mamma, and 
very soon the little smiles began twink- 
ling out of her eyes and about the cor- 
ners of her wee mouth, and in another 
minute she was her own happy little self, 
and ran to her mother’s arms with the 
merriest little laugh in the world. Mam- 
ma laughed, too ; and baby and mamma 
laughed so long and so happily that the 
smiles began dancing over the other four 
rosy faces, and then there was such a 
chorus of smiles and laughter that the 
whole army of frowns and “O, dears” 
ran off in a fright. 

“Now, children,” said mamma, when 
her voice could be heard above the laugh- 
ter, “ there will be a great many stormy 
days when you will have to play indoors, 
and we must plan to make them as happy 


lO RAINY DAYS AND SUNNY DAYS. 

and sunshiny as possible. Suppose you 
each take charge of a day, and plan some 
way in which to spend it.” 

‘‘All right,” exclaimed the little ones, 
“who’ll have to-day?” 

“ I will write a name on each of these 
five scraps of paper,” said mamma, “ and 
Curlyhead can put them in his cap.” 

“What for?” asked Blue-Eyes. 

“ So we may draw lots,” said mamma. 

Curlyhead stirred the bits of paper in 
his cap, and Baby put in her little hand 
and drew out one. Cherry lips’ name was 
written upon it, so Cherry lips was to 
have charge of that rainy day. 

“What are you going to do? What 
are you going to do?” asked the others, 
eagerly. 

Cherrylips thought a moment, and 
then she whispered in mamma’s ear. 
Mamma said “ yes,” and went ofi to the 
kitchen. 

“What are we going to do?” they all 


CHERRYLIPS' RAINY DAY. 


II 


asked again. Cherrylips laughed. “We 
are going to have our picnic,” she replied. 

“ Why, it hasn’t stopped raining,” said 
Curlyhead, in surprise. 

‘Never mind,” answered Cherry lips, 
“ we are going to have our picnic. This 
room is to be the grove, and we are to 
have our lunch here. Now we must all 
get our hats, and Blue-Eyes must carry a 
basket to hold the flowers we shall find.” 

“ O, yes,” replied Blue-Eyes, eagerly, 
“that corner, next the window, we’ll 
make believe is the spot where the vio- 
lets grow.” 

“And the middle strip of the carpet 
will be the brook where Curlyhead and I 
sail our boat,” cried Dimplechin. 

With a merry laugh they all ran for 
their hats, and soon mother returned 
from the kitchen with the big lunch 
basket in her hands. This basket and 
mother’s camp-chair and Baby Sunshine 
were lifted into Dimplechin’s little ex- 


12 RAINY DAYS AND SUNNY DAYS 



“Then they all marched in line.” 


CHKRRYLIPS’ RAINY DAY. 1 3 

press wagon, and then they all marched 
in line through the hall and dining-room 
and back to the nursery, which was now 
the “ make believe ” grove. 

Mother sat down in one corner on her 
camp-chair to sew, while the children 
made believe pick flowers, and sail boats, 
and wade barefoot in the brook, until 
lunch time. Then mamma spread a 
white cloth on the make-believe grass, 
and the children all sat about it and said 
“oh’’ and “ah” as she took out the sand- 
wiches, crackers, and cookies, and the 
little mugs to hold the good milk that 
she had brought in a bottle. It was all 
like a really truly picnic, and everything 
tasted so good. 

When they had finished luncheon, 
mamma took out a book, and read them 
a story while they were resting. Just 
then the old sun suddenly peeped out 
from behind a cloud to see what they 
were doing, and laughed right in at the 
window. 


14 RAINY DAYS AND SUNNY DAYS. 


‘^Oh, oh!’’ cried the children, jumping 
up in a hurry, “we can have our real 
picnic to-morrow.” 

“ Look at the rainbow,” said mamma. 

“ I guess the sun sent us the rainbow 
’cause we were good in the house,” said 
Cherry lips. 



II. 


CURLYHEAD’S RAINY DAY. 

^HE next time the raindrops pattered 
^ against the window-pane there were 
no frowning faces to he seen. 

Whose rainy day is this?” cried the 

✓ 

five little people. “ Who will make the 
sunshine to-day?” 

Mamma wrote the names on the slips 
of paper, and this time the lot fell to 
Curlyhead. 

The other four turned eagerly to the 
big brother. Curlyhead was ten years old. 

‘‘Well,” said Curlyhead, in answer to 
their excited questioning, “I guess we 
will all take a journey across the prairie 
and go out to live by a gold mine.” 

“ Like the people in the book you are 
reading?” asked Dimplechin. 


1 6 RAINY DAYS AND SUNNY DAYS. 

“Yes,” said Curlyhead. Then he 
dragged two big arm chairs out into the 
middle of the room and turned them over 
facing one another, with their arms rest- 
ing on the floor and their backs just 



touching at the top. Over these he threw 
a sheet, and then he had a very nice 
prairie wagon indeed. Two straight- 
backed chairs, harnessed with string, 
made good horses to draw this wagon. 


CURIvYHEAD'S RAINY DAY. 1 7 

Curlyhead put on an old hat of papa’s, 
and took a big cane for a gun. Dimple- 
chin stuck the paper cutter in his belt, 
to use as a knife to fight Indians, and 
Blue-Eyes and Cherrylips wrapped their 
doll babies in warm shawls, and tied on 
little Sunshine’s bonnet. 

“Now,” said Curlyhead, “you girls 
must get inside the wagon. Dimplechin 
will ride in front, and I will drive the 
horses, you know, and keep a lookout for 
the Indians.” 

The little girls crept inside the prairie 
wagon and sat on the crickets, which 
served as seats. Blue- Eyes was the 
mother, and she saw that all the bundles 
were stowed away safely and every one 
made comfortable. 

“We must have plenty of blankets,” 
she said, “ for it will be a long, cold jour- 
ney, and we shall have to sleep right here 
in the wagon.” 

Cherrylips held one dolly in her lap 


l8 RAINY DAYS AND SUNNY DAYS. 

and sat beside Sunshine, and Blue-Eyes 
took the baby doll in her arms and set- 
tled herself among the shawls and bun- 
dles. Then Curlyhead climbed to his 
high seat, and Dimplechin rode on one of 
the chair horses, and they started on 
their journey. 

The boys were sure they saw Indians 
every few minutes ; then they would fire 
off their make-believe guns or drive 
stealthily by, while the girls held the 
dollies close, and told them not to be 
afraid. By and by they stopped to let 
the horses rest. Then they each ate a 
cracker, and Blue-Eyes put the babies to 
bed in a snug corner of the wagon. 

At last, after more driving, they came 
to the gold mine, at the other end of the 
nursery. 

Then the boys took the prairie wagon 
to pieces, and made a tent to live in by 
stretching the sheet over four chairs. 

Blue-Eyes and Cherrylips soon had 


CHERRYLIPS' RAINY DAY. 19 

the new home in order, and the boys be- 
gan to dig for gold. Dimplechin’s 
square blocks made fine lumps of gold, 
and he very quickly filled a basket with 
the treasure and carried it into the tent. 

Blue-Eyes hid the gold under the bed, 
which was made of two shawls, and then 
the little miner went back for more. At 
that moment the dinner bell rang, and 
they all jumped up. 

“I guess we have all the gold we 
want,” said Curlyhead. “I’m hungry.” 
And then there was a merry race to the 
dining room. 



III. 


DIMPLECHIN’S RAINY DAY. 


¥kiMPLECHiN’s rainy day had come. “ I 
^ think we will go to sea and discover a 
desert island,”- said the little man. 

The children knew what that meant. 

There was an old table in the nursery, 
and this table, turned upside down, made 
a fine boat. Many voyages had already 
been taken in it. The four legs served 
as masts, and mamma’s white apron and 
a towel were tied on for sails. 

“ Curly head can be captain,” said Dim- 
plechin, “ and I will be a sailor and climb 
the masts.” 

“No,” said Curly head, “you be cap- 
tain, and have make-believe sailors. The 
girls can be passengers, and I’m going 


dimplechin’s rainy day. 


21 


to be Robinson Crusoe off on the desert 
island. You can rescue me.” 

“ A.11 right,” said Dimplechin, well 
pleased to be captain himself. “Now 
yon ladies must get on board, ’cause 
we’re going to start in five minutes.” 

“Yes,” said Blue-Eyes, “I’m getting 
the children ready.” 

It was not long before the three little 
ladies and their babies stepped carefully 
into the boat. 

“Can’t I be a sailor?” asked Cherry- 
lips. “ I don’t want to play passenger.” 

“All right,” said Dimplechin, “but 
you must do just as I say, ’cause I’m 
captain.” 

Cherry lips gave her doll to Baby Sun- 
shine, and exchanged her bonnet for one' 
of Curlyhead’s caps. Then she ran to 
help spread out the big sail, and soon, 
after much shouting, they had started on 
their voyage. 

“Can I trail my hand in the water?” 


22 RAINY DAYS AND SUNNY DAYS. 

asked Blue-Eyes, “tke same way I did 
when papa took us out on the lake?” 

“ Why, ’course you can’t,” replied 
Dimplechin. “ This is a great big boat ; 
you can’t reach the water.” 


They sailed away for some time. 
Dimple was busy giving orders, and 



Cherry had to watch the sails, while 
Blue-Eyes took care of Sunshine and 
the babies. At last they came in sight 
of the desert island. 


DIMPLECHIN'S RAINY DAY. 23 

The sofa was the desert island, and 
Curlyhead had stuck mamma’s great 
feather duster up in the back for a palm 
tree. He had tied a white handkerchief 
to the top of the palm tree, as a signal 
of distress for some passing boat to see. 
Then he had made a cave of sofa pillows, 
and now he was sitting under the tree 
watching for a sail. 

When Cherrylips caught sight of the 
handkerchief, she called to the captain, 
“ What is that white thing way off 
there?” 

Then Dimplechin took up a newspaper 
telescope and squinted through it. 

“Why, there is a desert island,” he 
cried, “ and I see a white flag, and a man 
sitting under a tree. We must go and 
ask him what he wants.” 

When Curlyhead — I mean Robinson 
Crusoe — saw the boat coming, he waved 
his arms and shouted. 

The captain shouted back, “ What do 
you want?” 


24 RAINY DAYS AND vSUNNY DAYS. 

“ I want to go home on your boat,” re- 
plied Mr. Crusoe. “I was shipwrecked 
on this island.” 

“How do you live there?” cried the 
captain. 

“ In this cave which I found here.” 

“ Have you any luggage to bring with 
you?” shouted the captain once more. 

“Nothing but my handkerchief. I 
will climb up the palm tree and get 
that now.” 

“Well, I don’t know how we can get 
you,” said the small captain. “Our boat 
won’t go any nearer.” 

“Then I shall have to swim out to 
yon,” replied the shipwrecked man ; and 
he put his handkerchief in his pocket 
and jumped into the water. Then he 
swam across the nursery floor and 
climbed into the boat. 

“You poor man, how cold and wet you 
are!” cried Blue-Eyes. “Wrap this blan- 
ket round you.” 


dimplechin’s rainy day. 25 

Mr. Crusoe thanked her, and wrapped 
himself in the blanket. 

Then they sailed away again, while he 
told them of his adventures. 



IV. 


BLUE-EYES’ RAINY DAY. 


OluE-EyeS was elected sunshine maker 
^ for the day. 

“O, I know what we’ll do,” she said, 
clapping her dimpled hands. “ I had it 
all planned out long ago; we’ll play a 
fairy tale.” 

“ That won’t be any fun,” said Curly- 
head. 

“Yes, it will,” said Blue-Eyes, “wait 
and see. You must be a kind old wood- 
chopper, Curlyhead, and live in a great 
forest, — such a poor old man that you 
have to sell all the wood you can cut, 
and have none left to make a house, so 
the fairies teach you how to make one 
out of molasses candy.” 


bluk-Kyes’ rainy day. 


27 


“ The sun would melt it,” said Curly- 
head, scornfully. 

“No,” replied Blue-Eyes, “for Cherry- 
lips and I will be the two good fairies 
who live in the heart of the hollow oak 
tree before your door, on purpose to take 
care of you. We will keep the candy 
from melting when the sun shines.” 

“All right,” said Curlyhead, “but I 
shall eat a piece of the roof whenever I 
get hungry.” 

“What can I be?” asked Dimplechin, 
eagerly. 

“ O, you and Sunshine can be two lit- 
tle children who go out to walk and get 
lost in the woods. Then you will find 
the candy house, and the good wood- 
chopper will show you the way home 
again.” 

The little ones were all pleased with 
the new game, and ran off to make ready 
for it. 

Curlyhead built his house in one cor- 


28 RAINY DAYS AND SUNNY DAYS. 

ner of the nursery. It was made with a 
screen, and some chairs, and mamma’s 
old shawl for a roof. When it was fin- 
ished, he printed in big letters on a piece 
of paper: 

THIS IS A MOLASSES CANDY HOUSE. 

COME, CHILDREN, AND TAKE A PIECE. 

This sign he pinned up over the door. 
Then he put on one of papa’s coats, and 
pulled an old hat over his eyes. 

“ Now I am ready,” he said, in a shaky 
voice. “I must go and gather some 
twigs, and make a fire to cook my poor 
supper. Perhaps the fairies will bring 
me an ear of nice, ripe corn to roast.” 

Blue-Eyes and Cherrylips had draped 
themselves in some old muslin curtains 
and mosquito netting, in order to look 
more fairy-like, and they chose the closet 
for their hollow oak tree. 

Dimplechin tied a red cape about Baby 
Sunshine’s shoulders, and put on her 


BLUE-EYES' RAINY DAY. 29 

hat; then he found his own hat, and 
they went to walk in the woods. 

They walked for some time, stopping 
to pick make-believe flowers and to look 
at make-believe birds and squirrels. 



Then Dimplechin said, “O dear! I 
don’t know the way home. I guess we 
are lost.” 

“ Dear ! dear !” echoed Baby Sunshine, 
and they pretended to cry. 


30 RAINY DAYS AND SUNNY DAYS. 

Then they walked some more, and at 
last Dimplechin cried, “What is that 
house over there? Why, it is made of 
candy 

“’Es, ’esP’ laughed Sunshine. 

“ Let’s eat some,” said Dimplechin. 

“What a good man to make a house 
for us to eat ! I’m so hungry ! ” 

Just then the closet door opened — I 
mean the door of the oak tree — and the 
fairies came flying out. 

“Why, you dear little children,” said 
Fairy Blue-Eyes, “are you lost in the 
forest ?” 

“Yes, we’re lost,” answered Dimple- 
chin, “ and we’re so tired and hungry. 
Did you make this good house for us to 
eat?” 

“No,” said Fairy Cherry lips, “that 
house belongs to the kind old wood- 
chopper. He put that sign up so that 
lost children would see it and come here; 
then he will help them get home again.” 


BLUE-EYES' RAINY DAY. 


31 

“ What a good man !’’ said Dimplechin. 
‘‘ Is he very poor?” 

“Yes,” said Fairy Blue-Eyes, “but the 
squirrels bring him nuts to eat, and the 
birds sing to him in the branches of the 
oak tree. We have come to get his sup- 
per for him. Do you want to help?” 

“’Es, ’es!” cried Sunshine. 

“ I will go out and talk with the squir- 
rels,” said Dimple, “and ask them to 
bring in a fresh supply of nuts.” 

Pretty soon the poor old wood-chopper 
came home, carrying a bundle of sticks 
on his back. 

“I wonder if any lost children have 
come to my house to-day,” he said. 
“Why, yes, there is a dear little girl 
eating a piece of my window-blind.” 

Sunshine laughed and clapped her 
hands. Just then Dimplechin came 
around the corner of the house. 

“ How do you do, Mr. Wood-chopper?” 
he said. “ The fairies have supper ready. 


32 RAINY DAYS AND SUNNY DAYS. 

and we are all going to stay and eat 
with you. Then will you show us the 
way home?” 

‘‘Yes, yes, my dear children,” replied 
the kind wood-chopper, and you may each 
have a big bag full of molasses candy to 
take to your brothers and sisters.” 

Dimple thanked the good old man, and 
then they all went into the make-believe 
candy house and ate a make-believe sup- 
per, and had a very good time indeed. 

After that the fairies flew home to the 
hollow oak tree, and the old wood-chopper 
took the children to the edge of the forest 
and gave them each a paper bag filled 
with candy (really blocks, you know). 

“You must come and see me again, 
some day,” he said, “ but now run home 
to your mother as quick as you can.” 

And Dimplechin and Sunshine took 
hold of hands, and ran as fast as ever 
they could till they reached mamma’s 
rocking-chair. 


V. 


BABY SUNSHINE’S RAINY DAY. 


^HE next rainy day was Baby Snn- 
^ shine’s, of course. The other chil- 
dren stood about her, trying not to laugh 
at the little, puzzled face. Suddenly the 
face was hidden in mamma’s Ian. “I 
don’t know,” she whispered. 

Mamma brushed aside the soft curls, 
and whispered in the pink ear. 

“ ’Es, ’es,” cried Sunshine, clapping her 
hands, her little face all smiles again. 

“ Sunshine is going to have a book 
factory,” explained mamma. 

“What?” asked the children, all inter- 
est in a moment. 

“Well,” said mamma, “sit down quiet- 
ly and I will tell you. You know Mrs. 


34 RAINY DAYS AND SUNNY DAYS. 

Downs, who lives in the little gray house 
around the corner?’’ 

“Yes, we know,” answered Blue-Eyes, 
“she comes to help you sew on our 
clothes, sometimes.” 



“ Suddenly the face was hidden in mamma’s lap.” 

“Yes,” said mamma, “ and Mrs. Downs 
has a little boy.” 

. “ How old is he?” asked Curlyhead. 

“ Not quite as old as Dimplechin,” an- 
swered mamma, “ and this little boy can- 
not run and play as you can.” 


BABY SUNSHINE'S RAINY DAY. 35 

“Why not?” questioned Dimplechin. 

“ Because he is sick, and has to lie in 
bed all the time, or sit in a wheel-chair. 
He fell when he was a little baby, and 
hurt his back.’’ 

The children all looked sorry for the 
poor little sick boy, and mamma went on: 

“Now Sunshine thinks it would be 
very nice to spend this day in making 
pretty scrap books for poor little Eddie 
Downs. Would you all like that?” 

“ O, yes,” was the eager reply. 

Mamma drew the long nursery table 
nearer the window, and the children 
scrambled into their chairs. Then she 
went to the closet and brought out a pile 
of illustrated papers, catalogues, old 
Christmas cards and tattered picture 
books. These were put in the middle 
of the table, with one or two pairs of 
blunt - pointed scissors. Next came a 
box of water colors, a paste pot, a box of 
colored crayons, and some scrap books 


36 RAINY DAYS AND SUNNY DAYS. 

made of several sheets of strong paper, 
folded and tied together with bright rib- 
bons. 

Now,” said mamma, “ Cherrylips can 
cut out the pretty and funny pictures, 
Blue-Eyes and Dimplechin can color 
some of them with the paints and cray- 
ons; and Sunshine can tell Curly head 
where to paste them in one of the scrap 
books. When you get tired you can 
change about work, or each take a scrap- 
book to make, as you please.” 

The little folks all set to work, and by 
the time the dinner-bell rang one big 
scrap-book was quite finished, and four 
small ones had been started. 

“ I guess we can finish them all before 
night,” said Curlyhead, as he ate his 
pudding. 

“ Yes,” said Blue-Eyes, “ I wonder what 
the little boy will say when he sees the 
books. Can we give them to him our- 
selves, mamma?” 


BABY SUNSHINE’S RAINY DAY. 37 

‘‘Yes, dear, the first pleasant day I will 
take you all to the little gray liouse, and 
you can carry your gifts with you.” 

Just then Baby Sunshine laughed and 
pointed to the window. A pale sunbeam 
was creeping over the carpet toward her 
high-chair, and the next minute the gray 
clouds broke away and the sun himself 
shone over the garden, making all the 
little raindrops twinkle. 

The children danced about in glee. 
“Oh, mamma, mammal” cried Cherry- 
lips, “can’t we go to see Eddie Downs 
this very day, and carry him the big 
scrap-book ? Then we can finish the 
others the next rainy day.” 

Mamma said yes, as soon as the streets 
were dry ; so the children ran up to the 
nursery to put away the pictures, and 
paints, and paste pots, until they should 
be wanted again. 

An hour or so later mamma took them 
to the gray house around the corner. 


38 RAINY DAYS AND SUNNY DAYS. 

Little Eddie Downs was very happy with 
the fine big scrap-book and his young 
visitors. He sat in his wheel-chair, smil- 
ing at the five rosy faces, and all the five 
looked questioningly at his pale, thin 
face, and wondered how he could smile 
when he had to stay so quiet all day 
long. They were very happy that their 
book could make him glad. 

“ We’re going to make you some more,” 
said Curly head, as they bade Eddie good- 
by, and that made the little cripple smile 
again. 

“ This has been the best rainy day of 
all,” Blue-Eyes exclaimed, as they were 
walking home, “and it has ended with 
sunshine, after all.” 

“ I think it began with Sunshine, too,” 
said mamma, stooping to kiss the happy 
face of her baby daughter. 


FOUR SUNNY DAYS.*' 


I. 

A SEPTEMBER DAY. 

“77 1 HO wants to go for a walk?” asked 
mamma, and five little voices cried 
eagerly^ “I do I” 

In a very few minutes the five liats 
were on, and the little people were out in 
the September sunshine. 

“ Now keep your eyes open,” said 
mamma, “ and tell me all you see.” 

Bushes and ferns and flowers crowded 
either side of the old country road, and 
the children ran about gathering treas- 
ures to bring to mamma. 

“ Summer has gone,” said Curlyhead, 
placing a scarlet leaf in her hand. 

“How do you know?” asked mamma. 

♦Reprinted Irom The Favorite by permission of the publishers. 


40 . RAINY DAYS AND SUNNY DAYS 



Gathering Treasures for Mamma 


A SEPTEMBER DAY. 4 1 

“ I know because that red leaf lias 
come,” said Curlyhead. 

“ And see all the beautiful golden-rod 
along tbe stone wall,” added Blue-Eyes. 
“ That began to come in August, to tell 
us summer was nearly gone; and the 
purple asters, too. Aren’t they pretty, 
mamma? ” 

All the birds’ nests we found in the 
summer are empty now,” said Cherrylips. 
“I suppose the little birdies that were 
hopping about on our lawn last month 
can fly as well as their fathers and moth- 
ers by this time.” 

‘‘Yes,” said mamma, “and some of 
them are leaving us now for the winter.” 

“ What fun they must have traveling 
together,” said Dimplechin. “I’d like to 
be a little bird and fly off ever so far, 
with lots of other birds, and see all they 
will see.” 

“ I’d rather stay here and coast,” said 
Curlyhead. 


42 RAINY DAYS AND SUNNY DAYS. 

“ I forgot the coasting/’ replied Dimple- 
chin. “ I couldn’t get home in time for 
that, if I went with the birds, could I ? ” 
Most of the birds like to stay away 
while it is cold and snowy here,” said 
mamma. “That is one of the signs of 
autumn I notice to-day. The birds are 
beginning to go.” 

“ And the apples are ripe,” said Curly- 
head, “ and the tall grasses have gone to 
seed. I can see lots of things that tell 
us summer has gone.” 

“ I wonder if the fringed gentians are 
in bloom yet,” exclaimed Blue-Eyes. 

“ O, I hope they are ! ” 

“We will go and see,” said mamma, 
and they turned oh the road into a sloping 
meadow. Blue-Eyes and Cherrylips ran 
ahead. 

“ They are here, they are here ! ” called 
back Blue-Eyes. “ O such lots of them, 
mamma, and they are so beautiful.” 

Soon they were all gathering the lovely 
blossoms. 


A SEPTEMBER DAY. 


43 


Baby Sunsbine looked down at the deep 
blue flowers in her bands and then sbe 
looked up at tbe deep blue sky overhead. 

“ Did tbey tumble down ? ” sbe asked 
turning to mamma witb a puzzled look 
in ber big eyes. 

Tbe children laughed but mamma 
kissed ber. 

^^Tbey are just tbe same color, aren’t 
tbey, dear ? ” sbe said. “ Mother Nature 
sent tbe gentians up out of tbe earth, but 
perhaps she made their dresses from bits 
of tbe September sky — who knows ? ” 
What pretty fringe tbey are trimmed 
witb,” said Cherry lips. “It is as soft 
and long as Sunshine’s eye lashes.” 

“ Let’s sit on tbe stone wall and rest 
before we go home,” said Dimplecbin; 
“ then mamma can tell us a story.” 

“Yes, yes!” cried tbe others, and tbey 
were soon perching along tbe wall wher- 
ever a flat stone could be found. 

Mamma sat down on an old stump in 
front of them. 


44 


RAINY DAYS AND SUNNY DAYS. 


“Once upon a time,” she began, “a 
little plant started to grow beside an old 
stone wall. It grew and it grew and no 
one seemed to notice it ; but the sun shone 
upon it and warmed its little heart, and 
the soft rains came to bathe away the 
dust of the road that had soiled it. At 
last its buds began to show yellow and 
one late day in the summer it lifted a 
beautiful golden plume above the stone 
wall. 

“ Then those who passed by noticed it 
and said, ‘ summer is going,’ and all 
Mother Nature’s children read the sign, 
too. The summer flowers began to steal 
away, one by one, and the autumn flowers 
appeared in their places — the aster and 
the lovely gentian. Then the mother 
and father birds who were teaching their 
young to fly said, ‘ Hurry, little children, 
you must learn to use your wings, for 
soon the cold will come and we must 
move southward. Summer is going. ’ 


A SEPTEMBER DAY. 


45 


And all this time the golden-rod grew 
and lifted its face to the September sky 
and nodded joyously over the old wall, 
for it was doing the work Mother Nature 
had given it to do.” 

“Is this the golden-rod you have been 
telling us about ? ” asked Cherrylips as 
mamma paused, and she leaned over the 
wall to touch a glorious golden spray. 

“Yes,” said mamma, “but we will not 
pick it. Let ns leave it here to enjoy the 
sweet air and sunshine and to tell its 
story to others. Now I think we must be 
walking home across the fields.” 



IL 


JACK FROST AND THE CHESTNUTS. 

what a beautiful, shiny morning ! ’’ 
” Blue-Eyes was standing at the win- 
dow in her night-gown and in a moment 
Cherrylips was there, too. ‘^Oh, oh I” 
she cried, ‘‘Why, everything is white 
and silver.’^ 

“I guess Jack Frost came round last 
night,” called Curlyhead from the next 
room. “ Say, I wonder if he opened the 
chestnut burrs.” 

“At that suggestion Dimplechin was 
out of bed, too, and before very long all 
the children were in the garden. 

“ Why, the grass is frosted,” exclaimed 
Cherrylips. “See, Blue-eyes, the fence 
and the hedge and all the bushes — every- 
thing is covered with shiny white.” 


JACK FROST AND THE CHESTNUTS. 47 

“It is the hoar frost/’ said mamma, 
who had just come out^ “by and by the 
sun will breathe on it and it will fade 
away ; but how pretty it is.” 

“ It looks soft,” said Blue-eyes. “ Oh, 
how the red woodbine shines with it, 
mamma.” 

“ Can’t we go to walk now ? ” asked 
Curlyhead. “ Dimple and I are sure Jack 
Frost opened the chestnut burrs last 
night.” 

“We will go and see,” said mamma. 

The old road was very beautiful on 
this frosty morning. The tall stalks of 
the golden-rod and other wayside things 
that had grown fuzzy and hoary and 
gone to seed long ago, were lovely again 
with the shiny frost. 

“ How red the maple leaves are,” cried 
Blue-eyes, “ and the pretty birches shine 
just like gold. Did Jack Frost do that, 
mamma ? ” 

“He helped,” said mamma. “The 


48 RAINY DAYS AND SUNNY DAYS. 

leaves would ripen and fall even if Jack 
never came, but it is be wbo gives them 
their brilliant colors.” 

“ I wonder what Jack Frost looks like,” 
said Dimplechin. 

“ I know,” said Cherry lips, “ he is a 
tiny, shiny little man all dressed in silver, 
and carries a slim little silver brush to 
paint the leaves with.” 

“ Yes, and in winter he sits on our win- 
dow sills and paints frost pictures on the 
glass,” added Curlyhead. 

“He must be very busy now,” said 
Blue-Eyes, “just think of all the work 
he did last night.” 

“ I’d like him to come and play with 
me,” said Baby Sunshine. 

“Perhaps he’d nip your little nose,’' 
said Curlyhead, and they all laughed as 
they turned into the chestnut grove. 

“ O, look at the dear little ferns !” cried 
Cherrylips. “ They have turned all 
white and pale like little ghosts. Did 
Jack do that, too ?” 


JACK FROST AND THE CHESTNUTS. 49 

“How pretty they are,” said Blue- 
Eyes, stooping to gather some, but Curly- 
head and Dimplechin were hurrying on. 
At last they fell on their knees. 

“ Hurrah, hurrah,” they cried, and then 
the girls hastened to join them, for they 
knew that the chestnuts had come. 

“They look like little Brownies,^’ 
laughed Dimplechin, laying three or 
four of the shiny brown nuts in a row on 
a flat stone near by. “How surprised 
they must be to find themselves down 
here.” 

Mamma picked up a fallen burr, and 
carefully spread it open. 

“ See what a cosey house Mother Na- 
ture has made for her chestnut babies,” 
she said. “Outside it is all rough and 
prickly, but inside it is lined with silken 
down, as soft as velvet, and here in their 
little beds the chestnut babies can sleep 
and grow until they are big enough to 
leave home.” 


50 


RAINY DAYS AND SUNNY DAYS. 


“Perliaps Mother Nature makes the 
house prickly outside so that we won’t 
want to touch it until it is open,” said 
Cherrylips. 





“ Perhaps so,” said mamma. “ She 
keeps the door fast shut while the babies 
are sleeping and growing, and the old 
chestnut tree rocks them in his arms; 
maybe the winds sing lullabies to them. 
But at last when they have grown big 
enough to wear their shiny brown jack- 


JACK FROST AND THE CHESTNUTS. 5 1 

ets, the little fellows begin to dream of 
the big world outside their snug homes, 
and then Mother Nature knows it is time 
for them to waken.” 

“ So she sends Jack Frost,” went on 
Curlyhead as mamma paused, ^^and he 
knocks at the prickly door and calls, 
‘ Here, wake up, yon little sleepy-heads 1’ 
and then the doors spring open and the 
Brownies come tumbling down, rubbing 
their eyes, I guess, and stretching them- 
selves.” 

‘‘ Does it hurt?” asked Sunshine, puck- 
ering her little face as if she could feel 
the tumble. 

“ No, dear,” said mamma, “ the grass is 
long and soft beneath the old tree, and 
the nut babies are so small it seems like 
a soft feather bed to them. Mother Na- 
ture would not let them fall if it would 
hurt them.” 

“Well, they are good, jolly little fel- 
lows, anyway,” said Curlyhead, “and I 


52 RAINY DAYS AND SUNNY DAYS. 

have a pocket full of them. I am very 
glad Jack Frost called them out last 
night.” 

How many lovely things Mother Na- 
ture gives us,” said Blue-Eyes. ‘‘Now 
that the flowers are gone we have the 
beautiful colored leaves, and all the nuts 
and fruit.” 

“ Yes, each month brings its treasures,” 
said mamma, “ and the treasures are not 
for us alone. All creatures are provided 
for. The squirrels are looking forward 
to the nuts as eagerly as are Curlyhead 
and Dimplechin.” 

“ And they will store them away to use 
next winter?” asked Cherrylips. 

“Yes,” said mamma, “but I will tell 
you about the squirrels another time.” 


III. 


LITTLE HARVESTERS. 

WHAT lots of fallen leaves ! ’’ 

The five little people and their 
mamma were out for their daily walk. 
It was a clear November morning, but 
the wind had blown hard the night be- 
fore, and now the ground was strewn with 
heaps of dry leaves. 

The children scuffed through these 
joyously. 

What a fine noise they make,’’ said 
Dimplechin. 

“ I wonder if the squirrels like to play 
in the leaves,” said Blue-Eyes. ‘^Do 
they, mamma?” 

“ I shouldn’t wonder,” replied mamma, 
some squirrels build their nests in the 
leaves.” 


^4 RAINY DAYS AND SUNNY DAYS. 

“WHat do the squirrels do in winter, 
mamma?’’ asked Cherrylips. 

“ They live in the trees,” replied Curly- 
head. 

“Not all of them, Curlyhead,” said 
mamma, “ you know the little chipmunks 
that we see skipping along the fence rails 
or playing about the stone wall?” 

“ O, yes,” said the children. 

“Well, they do not live in the trees. 
Their little homes are in the ground. 
The doorway is usually under the root of 
some big tree, or beneath a stone wall; 
in fact, they have two doors, and some- 
times more, as we do in our houses.” 

“Is there a hall?” asked Dimplechin. 

“Yes, a very long and winding hall, 
but it does not take the spry little chip- 
munks long to run the whole length of it. 
The hall leads to their cosey nest, or liv- 
ing room. This is lined with soft grass, 
and here the baby chipmunks live till 
they are big enough to run out of doors 
and play. 


LITTLE HARVESTERS. 55 

“We saw some playing, last summer, 
didn’t we, mamma?” said Blue-Eyes. 

“Yes, near the garden wall. They 
were as gay and frisky as my five chil- 
dren.” 

The children laughed with mamma, 
and then Dimple said again, “ But what 
do they do in the winter, mamma?” 

“ The chipmunks are not very fond of 
cold weather,” said mamma. “ When the 
air begins to get frosty they run into 
their little nests and stay there until 
spring.” 

“ But how do they live?” asked Cherry- 
lips. 

“ In their house the chipmunks have a 
little store-room,” said mamma, “ and do 
you think that store-room is empty when 
the chips shut themselves up for the 
winter? No, indeed. Who can tell me 
what is stored there?” 

“ I know,” cried Dimplechin and Curly- 
head together, “nuts.” 


2 5 RAINY DAYS AND SUNNY DAYS. 

“ Yes, nuts,” said mamma, “ and acorns. 
Do you suppose the squirrels spend all 
the summer playing? No, when the 
nuts are ripe the little creatures go to 
work to lay in their supply of winter food.” 

But how do they carry it ? ” asked 
Cherrylips. 

“I know; in their cheeks,” said Curly- 
head. 

“Yes,” said mamma, “ they have a little 
pocket in each cheek, and they fill the 
pockets with nuts and then come home 
and empty them in their storeroom.” 

“And then when winter comes they 
have the nuts to eat,” added Blue-Eyes. 

“ The chipmunks do not eat all winter,” 
went on mamma, “ when it is very cold 
they cuddle down in their warm little 
bedrooms and go to sleep; and they do 
not sleep just an hour or two, as we do. 
Their naps last for weeks, sometimes. If 
a warm spell comes they arouse them- 
selves and have a feast, but they do not 


LITTLE HARVESTERS. 57 

venture out of their homes until spring 
has come.” 


‘‘ How funny,” 

said Dimplechin, 

“Oh, I’m glad 

we don’t have to 

sleep all winter, 

aren’t you Curly- 

head ? Just think 

of losing all the 

coasting and skat- 
. „ “ Look, oh look, mamma ! ” 

mg.’ 

Cherrylips laughed. “Just think of a 
chipmunk skating,” she said. “I guess 
they are glad to sleep away, and dream 
of summer time. They don’t care for 
cold weather.” 




58 


RAINY DAYS AND SUNNY DAYS. 


‘‘The gray squirrels don't sleep all 
winter,” said Curlyhead. “ I Ve seen them 
lots of times, and grandpa says he always 
throws out oats and corn for them every 
morning when he feeds the horses. They 
will come up close to the barn door to 
get it.” 

“The squirrels are real tame up at 
grandpa’s,” said Blue-Eyes. “Look, oh 
look, mamma ! There is a big one up on 
the branch of the oak tree there. See 
how still he sits and watches us ! ” 

They all looked up at the pretty silvery 
creature with his sharp, bright eyes and 
his bushy tail, and he did not move. 

Perhaps he thought if he kept very 
still they would not see him. 

“ P’etty little brush ! ” exclaimed little 
Sunshine pointing to the squirrel’s tail. 
The children all laughed and so did 
mamma. 

“ Do you know what he uses that pretty 
tail for ? ” she asked. “ When he curls 


LITTLE HARVESTERS. 59 

up for a nap on these cold days he turns 
it into a bed quilt.’’ 

“ Really ?” said Blue-Eyes. 

‘‘Yes, he spreads it over his back and 
puts his tired little head down on the base 
of it, so it is his pillow, too.” 

“ O how funny ! ” exclaimed the girls. 

“Where do the gray squirrels store 
their nuts ? ” asked Dimple. 

“In a hollow tree usually, I think,” 
replied mamma, “and often their nests are 
in a different tree, but they do not mind 
going from one to the other. Perhaps the 
exercise gives them good appetites.” 

“ I saw a gray squirrel eating a pear 
one day,” said Curly head. “ He sat up 
and held it in his fore-paws in the cutest 
way, and kept turning it round and round 
as he nibbled.” 

“The little fellows are very fond of 
pear seeds,” said mamma, “and they 
know to find the food they care for.” 

“ How wise Mother Nature’s children 


6o RAINY DAYS AND SUNNY DAYS. 

are,” said Blue-Eyes. “Only think, the 
squirrels gather in their harvests just as 
men do.” 

“ I wonder if they have a Thanksgiv- 
ing Day, and a big dinner,” laughed 
Cherrylips. 

“ I think they do,” said Blue-Eyes. 
‘‘Oh, I can just see it all! They gather 
about some big stone, perhaps, with the 
snow for a table cloth.” 

“ If there is any,” laughed Curlyhead. 

t^And they set out their nuts and 
acorns,” went on Blue-Eyes, “and sit 
down together, just as we do at grandpa’s, 
and I’m sure they feel real thankful in 
their hearts for all the good things 
Mother Nature has given to them.” 

As Blue-Eyes paused, the gray squirrel 
in the oak tree began to chatter loudly, 
and then whisked suddenly about and 
sprang out of sight. 

“ Ho, ho, he is laughing at you 1 ” cried 
Curlyhead. 


LITTLE HARVESTERS. 


6l 


“ No, he is not,” said Blue-Eyes. “ He 
has just gone to tell the other squirrels 
that I know. Anyway when we go to 
grandpa’s on Thanksgiving Day I’m 
going to hunt around in the grove and 
see if I cannot find the gray squirrels at 
their Thanksgiving dinner.” 



IV. 


THE DAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS. 

MAMMA, mamma! come and see the 
little white stars on the window-sill.” 

The snow was falling gently, and as 
mamma raised the window the little 
people, who had hurried across the room 
at Dimplechin’s call, could see the snow- 
stars very clearly. As each flake touched 
the sill it at once took some beautiful 
starry form. 

“Oh, how lovely!”, cried Blue-Eyes. 
“See, some white stars have fallen on 
Sunshine’s hair.” 

Little Sunshine drew in her head and 
ran over to the mirror to look at them, 
but the stars had melted away. 

“There are lots of different kinds,” 
said Curlyhead. “I wonder what makes 
them so? ” 


THE DAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS. 63 

“They are crystals,” said mamma. 
“When old Winter comes to take pos- 
session of the earth it is time for the 
pretty crystals to form. The ice is made 
of crystals, you know, and the air is fill- 
ed with snow crystals, now.” 

“ Bnt why? ” asked Curly head. 

“Would the snow be falling to-day if 
it were summer-time? ” asked mamma. 

“ No,” answered the children. 

“ What would we have instead of snow?” 

“ Rain,” replied the little folks. 

“ Yes ; well to-day it is too cold for rain, 
and the frost spirits have touched the 
moisture in the air, and their icy fingers 
have caused it to form in crystals — these 
pretty snow-stars that are falling on the 
sill.” 

“But it rains sometimes in winter,” 
questioned Curlyhead. 

“ Yes, on warm days we often have rain, 
but if the air grows cold how quickly the 
rain turns to snow or hail.” 


64 RAINY DAYS AND SUNNY DAYS. 

“ And are icicles made of crystals ? ’’ 
asked Dimplecliin. 

“ Yes,” said mamma, “ and Jack Frost’s 
pretty pictures on tke window-pane are 
made of crystals, too.” 

‘^Ok, I’m glad the snow come,” cried 
Ckerrylips ; it’s so mucli more fun to 
have tke world all wkite on Christmas 
day.” 

‘‘ Hurrah, hurrah, Santa Claus is com- 
ing!” shouted Dimplechin. 

“Rah, rah!” echoed little Sunshine, 
clapping her hands. 

“ The sun is coming out,’’ called Curly- 
head from the window; “we can go for 
the greens now, can’t we, mamma ?” 

“ Mamma said “ yes,” and there was a 
merry scamper for the coat-closet, in 
search of rubber boots and coats and 
hats. Soon they were on the way to the 
woods, Curlyhead dragging Sunshine on 
his sled, and Dimplechin carrying a sack 
to put the greens in. Cherrylips looked 
up at the great trees overhead. 


THE DAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS. 65 

‘‘ How Strange it is to think they were 
all covered with leaves only last sum- 
mer,” she said. 

“Yes,” said mamma, “but how pretty 
the bare twigs are against the sky. Look 
up through the branches of that great 
elm tree.” 

“It’s like a giant spider-web,” said 
Curlyhead. 

“ Or a great piece of beautiful lace for 
a giant lady,” added Blue-Eyes. 

“Oh, there is a dear, gray nest hang- 
ing way out on that branch,” cried 
Cherrylips, “an oriole’s nest; see how 
the wind rocks it.” 

“And to think it was full of golden 
babies only a few months ago,” said Blue- 
Eyes. “ I’m glad they are away off where 
it is still summer. I don’t believe they 
would like to see the snowflakes in their 
old cradle.” 

They turned into the woods, and soon 
Curlyhead took up a stick and began 
poking away the snow under the trees. 


56 RAINY DAYS AND SUNNY DAYS. 

“ Here it is ! ” he cried at last, and lean- 
ing over he pulled from beneath its snowy 
blanket a long piece of trailing evergreen. 

“Oh, oh!” exclaimed the others, and 
they all fell to searching for the hidden 
vine. 

“ How good of Mother Nature to keep 
some of her children dressed in green 
all winter,” said Blue-Eyes; “why, it 
wouldn’t seem like Christmas without 
the evergreen to hang about.” 

“ What other green things do we have 
with us all the year?” asked mamma. 

“The big pine trees,” said Curly head; 
“and the hemlocks,” added Cherry lips; 
“and all the Kismus trees,” said little 
Sunshine. 

The children all laughed, and Curly- 
head lifted the bag full of greens onto 
the sled. 

“Sunshine will have to walk home,” 
he said. Sunshine slipped her hand in 
mamma’s, and they all went slowly along 


THE DAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS. 67 


the woodland path. As they came near 
the road again, Dimplechin paused. 

“Here are lots and lots of Christmas 
trees, Sunshine,” he said ; “ some of them 
are little enough for your dolly.” 





“ Soon they were on the way to the woods.” 

Sunshine clapped her hands. “ May I 
have one?” 

Curlyhead carefully took a baby-tree 
up by the roots, and Sunshine carried it 
home in her arms. “We will put it in a 


68 RAINY DAYS AND SUNNY DAYS. 

flower-pot,” said mamma, ‘‘and perhaps 
it will keep green all winter.” 

“ How pretty all those little trees are 
together,” said Blue-Eyes. “ I wonder if 
the birds and squirrels ever play Christ- 
mas tree with them. Oh^ the winter is 
so lovely ! ” 

“ There are beautiful things about us 
all the year round,” said mamma, “and 
we must keep our eyes wide open to see 
them all. How nuch Mother Nature has 
given us to keep the memory of summer 
in our hearts until the other green things 
come again.” 

“ And to think that all the little flowers 
and tender things are sleeping under the 
snow,” said Blue-Eyes. 

“ Santa Claus is coming, to-night ! ” 
cried Dimplechin. 

“Yes, and we must trim the house 
with greens before papa gets home,” said 
Cherrylips. 

“ And we have the Christmas packages 
to leave,” added Blue-Eyes. 


THE DAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS. 69 

“And our stockings to kang,” cried 
Dimplechin. 

“And the Christmas tree to set up,’’ 
said Curlyhead. “Papa will have to 
help do that.” 

“And the snow-birds to feed,” said 
mamma, “ and the Christmas carols to 
sing.” 

Little Sunshine looked up between the 
branches of the baby-evergreen, which 
she was clasping lovingly. “And I 
must get my dolly’s Kismus tree ready,” 
she said. 









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